COPULATIVE COMPOUNDS IN PUNJABI: MORPHEME-BASED MORPHOLOGY

Abstract

The present work aims to analyze and elucidate the various instances of compounding in Punjabi, explicitly focusing on copulative compounds. The copulative compound does not exhibit a head modifier relation but demonstrates coordination between its two elements. For instance, the words “actor-manager” and “actor and manager” contain two semantic heads due to the autonomous nature of its constituent elements. The constituents of these compounds exhibit fusion, wherein one constituent is completely assimilated into the other, distinguishing them from endocentric and exocentric compounds. The data has been gathered from both the Punjabi grammar book and individuals who are native speakers of Punjabi. The findings from the data analyses indicate that the three hypotheses proposed by the morpheme-based theory are highly appropriate and applicable to the Punjabi copulative compounds.